City employee investigated for theft of funds

The alleged theft of city funds brought Cottage Grove City Manager Richard Meyers, Mayor Tom Munroe, Council President Heather Murphy and City Attorney Sean Kelly together for a special press conference Monday afternoon.

Meyers began the conference with a statement describing the City’s discovery of the alleged embezzlement and the actions subsequently taken:

On Jan. 16, city staff discovered several financial discrepancies in the city utility accounts and began an internal investigation into what appeared initially to be a computer programming error,” Meyers stated. “It was quickly discovered that the problems were not a computer error but appeared to be an exploitation of a weakness in the computer software by an employee.”

Meyers said the employee, who was not identified during the press conference due to the ongoing investigation, was placed on administrative leave and later terminated. The city’s computer system was secured and locked down for evidence, Meyers said. He added that city staff is working with the city auditor, attorney and insurance attorneys in assisting law enforcement officials with an ongoing investigation, which is being headed by the Cottage Grove Police Department with assistance from the Eugene Police Department, District Attorney’s office and Oregon State Police.